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Resolute Digital

Friends since childhood, Brian McNamee and Jarod Caporino – who first met in kindergarten – had professional lives that were compatible and often discussed working together. McNamee had a successful career as a creative director at some of the most prestigious agencies in New York City, and Caporino enjoyed success as a media buyer and director of client services and business development for other well-known businesses, but they knew they could do more if they combined their expertise and experience.

“Professionally, we grew up together in the digital world,” said McNamee, “and often talked about bringing our creative and media minds together.”

They eventually did just that, launching a multi-faceted business, part of which was an advertising agency. The agency was immediately successful, but McNamee said the other facets of the business took some of the focus away from their core strengths. “It was a great learning experience, but we wanted to start an agency with a sole focus on digital advertising,” he said, and so they left that company with a goal of starting all over with a new business.

Together with two other colleagues, Daniel Savage and Benjamin Sanders, they formed Resolute Digital in 2008. Savage brought his strong analytical skills to the company and Sanders provided the strength in technology that the new business needed.

By 2011, the agency had grown to about 20 employees and had run out of space at its Manhattan offices and so the partners were looking for a new location. Once they found the right space, they sought financing for the purchase. “Even though we were profitable right from our first month, we had no cushion for expansion, so we pursued different options,” McNamee said.

They were referred to NYBDC through Edward Son, senior vice president/relationship manager of Citi Commercial Bank. Working with Citi, NYBDC Vice President Linda Zou helped create a financing package that allowed Resolute Digital to purchase a condominium on West 25th Street in Manhattan, a space nearly triple the size of its previous location. Citi provided a $1,217,500 first mortgage and Empire State CDC provided a $974,000 SBA 504 loan.

“The SBA 504 loan program was a perfect fit for Resolute Digital, as it only requires a 10 percent equity contribution from the business, which allowed them to preserve valuable working capital needed to expand their business and to create jobs,” said Zou.

“Growing businesses devour cash,” said McNamee, “and the 504 loan enabled us to hire more staff, buy furniture and equipment and still buy new office space, giving us a place to grow our business.”

Twenty-five more employees have been added since Resolute Digital moved into its new offices in June 2102, and its growth is being noticed. It was recently named to Inc.’s 2013 List of 500/5000 Fastest Growing Companies, ranking 1010. Savage predicts revenue will continue to grow by about 25 percent annually.

“Resolute Digital is a rapidly growing digital agency founded by seasoned industry professionals with proven track records, and our team at Citi Commercial Bank was happy to work on the financing of Resolute Digital’s permanent office purchase,” said Citi’s Son.

NYBDC’s Zou agreed, saying “We are proud to be a part of their growth!”

“Linda guided us through a fairly complex process step by step,” said McNamee. “At the end of the day, with her help things went pretty smoothly.”

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NYBDC's goal is to promote the business prosperity and economic welfare of the State of New York by providing loans to small businesses including start-up, early stage and mature businesses, with a particular emphasis on minority and women owned businesses. NYBDC provides opportunities to access capital to create or preserve job opportunities and to stimulate the growth, expansion and modernization of small businesses in New York State.

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